Mark Bittman’s Master Quick-Bread Recipe
One thing that has continued to astound me as I’ve cooked and eaten and traveled over the years is how, by using a single technique, you can create a vast (sometimes limitless) variety of dishes simply by swapping some ingredients. Knowing this makes the world of cooking feel much simpler and it’s given me a great deal of freedom to experiment and come up with new recipes and flavor combinations. (The idea appears throughout the new edition of How to Cook Everything, where I’ve included charts showing how easy it is to swap out ingredients of a main recipe to create an entirely new dish.)
The approach applies perfectly to all the holiday quick breads that pop up around this time of year. Cranberry-Nut, Zucchini, Pumpkin-Hazelnut--you name it--most of them descend from a single master recipe. This makes it easy to customize your own fruit-and-nut or vegetable-and-nut bread combinations; the batter is the same and you just vary the add-ins. (If you’re baking multiple holiday breads to give as gifts, you could flavor each differently--one for your aunt Ida who loves tart cranberry-nut bread, one for your pal Tim who digs a sweeter bread like apple-walnut.) Some of my favorite combinations are:
- Zucchini and cashews (or just zucchini)
- Winter squash and hazelnuts
- Sweet potatoes and pecans
- Cherries (pitted) and almonds
- Cranberries and pistachios
- Grapes (halved) and peanuts
- Apples and walnuts
Making quick bread is easy. If you regard baking as “like cooking but with more rules” know that there’s really only one rule here: Don’t overmix the batter. When you see no more dry bits of flour, the stirring is done. Some remaining lumps are fine. You don’t want the batter sitting around, so make sure your fruit or vegetables and nuts are grated or chopped as needed before you begin. And feel free to play with the seasonings: grated cinnamon, nutmeg, or even crushed black pepper would be a nice twist.
Fruit-and-Nut or Vegetable-and-Nut Bread
MAKES: 1 loaf
TIME: About 1 1/4 hours
This is the master recipe for making a whole family of breads. If the fruit you use is really juicy (like peaches), put the pieces in a strainer and let them drain for an hour or so before proceeding.
You can also bake these as muffins: Prepare the batter as directed, then divide among 12 greased muffin cups. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes.
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold butter, plus butter for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fruit juice, like orange or apple, or milk
1 tablespoon minced or grated orange or lemon zest
1 egg
1 cup any raw fruit or vegetable: small berries left whole, anything else peeled and grated or chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into bits, then
use a fork, 2 knives, or your fingers to cut or rub it into the dry
ingredients until there are no pieces bigger than a small pea. (You can
use a food processor for this step, which makes it quite easy, but you
should not use a food processor for the remaining steps or the bread
will be tough.)
3. Beat together the juice, zest, and egg. Pour into the dry
ingredients, mixing just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix
until the batter is smooth. Fold in the fruit and the nuts, then pour
and spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, or
until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center
comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the
pan.
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